Lightning — Pinellas, Florida

2013-05-28 · near Belleair Shores, Pinellas, Florida

Event narrative

Pinellas County emergency management and print and broadcast media reported a 51 year old woman was struck and killed while walking on Belleair Beach. Print media reported she was walking on the beach with a friend. When storms started to roll in, the two friends got separated. After the storms cleared, the friend found the woman's body on the beach. The death was called into the Sheriff's Department at 6:47 PM EDT, so an estimated time of 6:45 PM EDT was used.

Wider weather episode

Deep moisture and southeast winds fueled scattered afternoon thunderstorms over central and southwest Florida that moved northwest towards the coast. Lightning from one of the storms struck and killed a woman walking on Belleair Beach.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (27.9294, -82.8428)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 445434. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.